Balaam is the prophet who would not curse Israel,
and then taught Balak how to stumble them.
How can I curse whom God has not cursed?
You have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam,
who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel.
They have followed the way of Balaam,
the son of Beor,
who loved gain from wrongdoing.
Balak king of Moab fears Israel and hires Balaam son of Beor to curse them. God tells him not to go, then lets him go with a word he must not pass. The donkey sees the angel. Balaam does not, until his eyes are opened. Three times he opens his mouth to curse. Three times he blesses. A star shall come out of Jacob. He cannot go beyond the word of the Lord. That is the oracle. It is not the end of the man.
- Moses later writes that the women of Moab invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and Israel yoked itself to Baal of Peor. Numbers says this was on Balaam’s advice. He taught Balak the stumbling block he could not speak as a curse.
- Israel kills Balaam with the sword among the slain of Midian. The hireling dies with the people he counseled.
- Jesus names the teaching of Balaam in the letter to Pergamum: food sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality.
- Peter says he loved gain from wrongdoing.
- Jude says they abandon themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error.
The blessing was true. The man was hired. The Nicolaitans are set beside his teaching in Pergamum. A true oracle does not clean a counselor who shows the king another way to ruin the people.
He could not curse whom God had blessed.
He taught Balak another way.
The teaching still has holders.
Repent.
- Balaam is a real hired prophet, not only a nickname in Revelation.
- God puts the blessing in his mouth. He cannot curse Israel.
- The donkey sees the angel before the prophet does.
- The star from Jacob is in his oracle. The oracle outlives the man.
- His counsel is the stumbling block: idol food and immorality at Peor.
- He dies by the sword among the Midianites.
- Peter, Jude, and Jesus all use him as a warning about gain and false teaching.
- The Hire – Balak sends fees to buy a curse.
- The Word – He cannot go beyond the command of the Lord.
- The Donkey – Sees the angel; the seer does not.
- The Blessing – How can I curse whom God has not cursed?
- The Star – A star shall come out of Jacob.
- The Counsel – A stumbling block before Israel.
- The End – Killed with the sword; named by Peter, Jude, and Christ.
- Numbers 22:12 – “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.”
- Numbers 22:28 – “Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, ‘What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?’”
- Numbers 23:8 – “How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?”
- Numbers 23:19 – “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind.”
- Numbers 24:17 – “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.”
- Numbers 25:1-3 – “The people began to whore with the daughters of Moab… the people ate and bowed down to their gods… So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor.”
- Numbers 31:16 – “Behold, these, on Balaam’s advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the matter of Peor.”
- Numbers 31:8 – “They also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword.”
- Revelation 2:14 – “You have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.”
- 2 Peter 2:15 – “Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing.”
- Jude:11 – “Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion.”
How can I curse whom God has not cursed?
A star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.
On Balaam’s advice they caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the matter of Peor.
They also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword.
You have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel.
They have followed the way of Balaam, who loved gain from wrongdoing.
A true blessing in his mouth did not make him clean. He could not curse Israel, so he taught Balak how to stumble them. Do not hold that teaching. The star he saw still rises. The counselor died by the sword.
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